Housing assembly for rotary engine and method of manufacturing thereof

Abstract

A rotary internal combustion engine has a housing assembly comprising a rotor housing and a side housing. The rotor housing and/or the side housing has a main body made of a base material, a bounding layer including the base material at an interface with the main body, and an external layer made of an external material, the external layer secured to the main body via the bounding layer. The base material and the external material are dissimilar to one another. A wear-resistance of the external material is greater than that of the base material. The external layer defines at least a part of one or more of the face of the rotor housing, a peripheral inner face of the rotor housing, and an inner side face of the side housing.

1 . A housing assembly for a rotary internal combustion engine, comprising:
 a rotor housing extending around an axis, the rotor housing having a peripheral inner face facing a rotor cavity and a face intersecting the peripheral inner face;   a side housing secured to the rotor housing, the side housing defining an inner side face facing the rotor cavity and facing the rotor housing; and   one or more of the rotor housing and the side housing having:
 a main body made of a base material; 
 a bounding layer including the base material at an interface with the main body; and 
 an external layer made of an external material, the external layer secured to the main body via the bounding layer, 
   the base material and the external material being dissimilar to one another, a wear-resistance of the external material greater than that of the base material, the external layer defining at least a part of one or more of the face of the rotor housing, the peripheral inner face of the rotor housing, and the inner side face of the side housing.   
     
     
         2 . The housing assembly of  claim 1 , wherein the base material is aluminum and the external material is one of steel, cast iron, tungsten carbide, and silicon carbide. 
     
     
         3 . The housing assembly of  claim 1 , wherein a thickness of the external layer is at least about 0.010 inch. 
     
     
         4 . The housing assembly of  claim 1 , comprising a hard coating disposed over the external layer on a face facing away from the bounding layer. 
     
     
         5 . The housing assembly of  claim 4 , wherein the hard coating includes of one or more of silicon carbide, chromium carbide, aluminum nitride, and tungsten carbide. 
     
     
         6 . The housing assembly of  claim 1 , wherein the side housing includes a side wall secured to the rotor housing and a side plate, a peripheral section of the side plate disposed between the side wall and the rotor housing. 
     
     
         7 . The housing assembly of  claim 6 , wherein the side plate includes a core made of the base material and two layers of the wear-resistant material secured to opposed faces of the core via respective bounding layers including the base material. 
     
     
         8 . The housing assembly of  claim 7 , wherein both of the inner side face and the face are defined by the external material. 
     
     
         9 . The housing assembly of  claim 8 , comprising a hard coating disposed over the side plate.